Search This Blog

A wide choice of topics covered from the dawn of history right up to present days . Many of these have a wider relevance than purely within the context of Strathearn . The author's viewpoint often is at variance with the accepted opinions espoused elsewhere eg The Jacobite Uprisings and The Reformation .

The Last Thatched House In Crieff

The Last Thatched House In Crieff

Extracted
from Crieff Past & Present published 21 January 1888

Hill Street or Hill Wynd

Among the many new and fine buildings in the town, the
churches are a leading feature with their handsome outlines and lofty spires.
Within the past few years The Established, Free, UP and Episcopalian Churches
have erected noble edifices costing over £20 000 the hotels are also splendid
buildings, and the banks are well represented in the architecture of the town
All kinds of property have rapidly improved during the last 30 years and , with
one exception in Hill Wynd , all the thatched houses have disappeared

In the mode of living there is a very great difference
from what it usedbe . It is not so long
since a room and closet were considered sufficient for a family , and
ventilation was never taken into consideration . According to the size of the
family there would be from one to five beds in the two apartments We have seen
four beds placed two and two like those in the cabin of a ship , and beds were
common with castors to wheel from underneath others to the middle of the floor
. Box beds of Rannoch fir were much in use . They closed like a press and were
favourite haunts for insects The sleeping room was also the kitchen Pigs were
indispensable household gods and were at all convenient the piggeries were
placed as near the dwelling house as possible Most families had two and many
three swine . Not infrequently the piggeries were close to the back windows of
the houses and in warm summer weather the smells and fly annoyance were
terrible . When fevers visited the town the results were always severely fatal
. The rearing of pigs caused an extraordinary amount of labour on the wife and
younger branches of the family . As a rule there were no scarcity of potatoes
previous to the disease of 1846 , but bedding for the pigs , consisting of
ferns , fog or moss and grass had to be carried regularly from the neighbouring
plantations . Draff and burned ale were conveyed in barrows from the
distilleries and breweries . There was a goodly number of cows which also
required continuous attention , but such labour in a monetary point of view was
seldom thought of .

Many of the wives had been more or less brought up
amongst the farmers , and agricultural habits often remained with them . The
room of the house often resembled a miniature farm steading . The fire had a
succession of pots to boil from morning to late at night , and the floor –
generally an earthen one – was studded with buckets, pails , pots, pans , miscellaneous basins , bowls and
plates with detachments of firewood – generally tree branches , large and small
.If large , the end of the stick was put below the boiling pot , and as it
burned it was pushed into the fire . This was much easier in the older style of
hearths where the fire was on the hearthstone on a level with the floor and the
smoke had a choice of exit either by a square wooden funnel suspended above the
fire or by any of the windows , doors or crevices of the dwelling . It was in
the funnel that hams were smoked .In doing this properly peats had to be used
as fuel .

The
kindling of fires required some art in those days . Where the old hearths were
in use a peat would smoulder all night and a little blowing would make blaze
nicely in the morning but where therewere grates , other means were resorted to. At that time there were
spunk makers who vended their waresfrom
house to house .The spunk was a piece of fir root some 4 inches long , split
thin and narrow with a top of brimstone on each end . Each family had a tinder
box , a tin box about 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch deep , into which was
placed the remains or tinder of burnt cotton . On a piece of steel being struck
on flint , sparks were emitted out which on reaching the tinder kept red till
touched with the top of the spunk . The brimstone took fire , and the old
cruisie or lamp was lighted . When the matches or “ Lucifer matches “ as they
were called , were introduced about half a century ago, the match was placed between a folded bit
of sand paper and by a quick pull , the Lucifer ignited . Things improvedin a year or two, and the present system of casting matches
was invented . A not infrequent practice was to look for a neighbour’s chimney
smoking and then enter the house and borrow a light .

The
parish minister writing nearly a century ago , says : “ Instead of the grave
and solid productions of the country , the gay cloths , silks , muslins , and
printed cottons of England adorn on Sundays almost every individual “ . The
grave and solid productions were plaiden and other woollen stuffs and linen .
Blue plaiden was , and still is , much in use in rural districts , but other
articles of dress change with the fashions .

The
old women wore “ soubacks “ or clean mutches peaked up at the back , and almost
all the young women and girls went bare headed and bare footed . About the
beginning of the century boys had blue kilts and jackets , and ran without
bonnet or shoes till they were seven or eight years of age .

The
men about the beginning of the century wore clothes mostly of blue and gray ,
knee - breeches and shoes with buckles were much in fashion , as were also
tartan cloaks .

About
50 years ago shepherd check plaids came into use and various modes of folding
them exercised the ingenuity of the lieges . When the Queen was at Crieff in
1842 , the troops of Ferntower farmers had them on in the newest style . The
plaid was folded narrow , the middle placed in front of the body , the ends
passed back below each arm , crossed at the back , passed over each shoulder ,
then down in front and fixed under the part , in front of the body .

When
a tradesman prepared for marriage he secured a beaver hat a guinea and long
boots also costing a guinea . A brown or blue swallow tailed coat having brass
buttons with a fancy silk or velvet vest covered the body . The linen shirt had
a very high collar reaching the ears , round which was wound a big neckerchief
like a brecham which held the starchedcollar firmly up , so that the head could scarcely move to either side .
These wedding “ braws “ often served a lifetime , and occasionally his grandson
got the vest made down to suit his wear.

The
tailor about the end of the last century did not sit cross – legged . He was
usually a knowing tradesman . His visit to a rural family was an event , and
usually some of the neighbours made it a point to be present to hear and enjoy
his funny stories and news . The tailor got from 10d to 1s and his food for a
day’s work . Shoes and boots were made to suit either foot , and were by most
people carefully shifted each morning , so that what the right foot wore one
day , the left had the next . Shoemakersthen
, like the tailors , whipt - the – cat that is, went to the house of the customer and did the work there . Such was
the style of shoe or broguemaking that
one shoe maker , after softening the upper leather early in the morning , could
make the shoes for the family before he ceased work at night , getting 8d or
10d and his food for so doing .

Packmen
or “ dusty feet “ did a large trade . Woollen , linen and cotton cloth with the
necessary accompaniments of needles , thimbles, scissors , thread &c,
formed their principal stock , which they carried hither and thither through
the country . Chapmen or booksellers , were numerous . Their pamphlet usually
sold at 1d and 2d , and included the Histories of William Wallace , King Robert
the Bruce , George Buchanan , Leper the Tailor , and any amounts of stories ,
ballads and songs . The last confessions and dying speeches of condemned
criminals sold well . Tinklers roamed in squads , and sold and mended pots and
pans . They supplied the inhabitants with horn spoons , from the short “ cuttle
“ to the elegant ornamented “ broth spoons “ . It is not so many years since
metal spoons came into general use .

At
that time bowls and other domestic utensils were made of wood . Bickers ,
turned bowls , stoups , pails and buckets , &c, &c , gave the coopers
plenty of employment . In 1800 there was a severe dearth , and the poorer
classes had much ado to find and pay for food . One old man , named Sinclair ,
learning that pease meal could be got at the Mill of Gask – some nine miles
away – set out one morning for two pecks of it . On his way home he
foregathered with a pedlar who had bowls of earthenware . A bargain was struck
, and Sinclair carried home a small bowl , which was exhibited to the
neighbours as something really new . it was for long carefully kept for show in
a press with a glass front .

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+

Email

Other Apps

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A number of years ago I purchased a small booklet on Glen Artney in the book shop
that existed for some years in Drummond Street Comrie. The
author was the late Gordon Booth FSA , a superb researcher and accomplished
author . He was not a local man since moving to the village from I believe the Island of Islay in the
Inner Hebrides. Since arriving in the area, he had
read and assimilated much of the history and folk lore of this part of
the Strath .I recall the late Tom Weir (
of the woolly hat ) doing a programme in his Weir’s Way series on Glen Artney
an d featuring Gordon Booth . Regrettably
all seven of his little books are out of print although they may be
available to borrow through Perth and Kinross Library Service. I have
incorporated partial excerpts from his writings
in this blog on the Glen which I duly acknowledge as a fitting tribute to his
diligence .

Glen Artney is some eight or so miles in length from the former
prisoner of war camp at Cultybraggan
near Com…

There has been
considerablediscussionrecently regarding thestate of decrepitude ofmany of the olderand betterknownbuildingsin Crieff . The Drummond Arms , the old
Parish Church in Church Street ( aka the Community Hall ) , the George or Strathearn
Hotel and the old Crown Hotel in East High Street . Onedoesnotto travel too far back in
timeto recallthefate ofmany other fine buildings
in Crieff and indeed in Strathearn on a wider basis . Although I devoteda small spacesomemonthsback to Ferntower HouseI finditso fascinating that I
havedecided I am going to elaborate furtherandincludemore informationabout it andits mostcelebrated occupant
General SirDavid Bairdwhose monument dominates so much of the
Strath . It was a building not renownedforany great architectural
meritbut rather for its part in the
overalltapestry oflife in the Strath over two centuries . Once the home of the Preston family in the 15th
century the lands of Ferntower were forfeited to the Crown .These
landsseemed separate …

An Account Of One Of The Most Bloody Political/Religious Battles Fought In This Part Of Scotland The Battle of Tibbermore /Tibbermure

Victory by the Back Door The surge in the amount of violence and mayhem in the Middle
East and in targeted European (including British) locations has caused much grief and sadness to innocent families
and individuals . Atrocities carried out
in the name of religion are not something
that has suddenly occurred .They
have been part of society for longer than we might imagine .

The period of the 1640s in Scotland was one of violent confrontation between the
Royalists faction supporting the Stewart monarch Charles 1 and the fiercely
Presbyterian adherents known as Covenanters . Despite the efforts of James VI
to introduce Bishops into the Kirk , the Covenanters with their
power base in the south and south
west of Scotland were vociferous and militant in pursuit of their cause . In
1644 they marched south into
England to lend support to the Engl…

Retired part time lecturer at Perth College and former rugby correspondent to our local paper the Strathearn Herald .Former President and a Honorary Member of Crieff & Strathearn Rugby Club. Written 4 books on the local history of Strathearn .